


221B: Nightmare (Starless and Bible-Black)

by mydwynter



Category: Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: 221B Ficlet, Angst, Dreams, Heartbreak, M/M, Nightmares, Post Reichenbach
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-30
Updated: 2012-08-30
Packaged: 2017-11-13 05:09:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/499839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mydwynter/pseuds/mydwynter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A wedding. An empty room. A dull black sense of dread.</p>
            </blockquote>





	221B: Nightmare (Starless and Bible-Black)

With a cry, he sat bolt upright in bed, and the greyed-out walls of his bedroom swam and pitched. He grasped desperately for sense, pulse thundering in his ears.

His gaze flickered around at surroundings settled with a veneer of unreality, all his old things still familiar and unfamiliar both at once. A pained noise bubbled up before he could stifle it, and he squeezed his eyes closed. The dream clutched dizzily at him: that woman Mary, curls bobbing as she laughed with perfect joy; freesias and white meringue; John's most radiant smile, over a starched collar and not shining at him; the finality of a shut door echoing in an empty upstairs bedroom. Panic and fear and a dull black sense of dread still squeezed his throat.

Soft footsteps shuffled down the hall.

"Sherlock?"

He pressed his palms to his eyes. "Mmm."

John's voice called from outside the door. "All right?"

"Mmmhmm." He didn't trust his voice.

"Nightmare?"

"Mmmhmm."

"Tea?"

"No." The word cracked, and he swallowed, wincing. "Thanks."

"…Right. Erm, okay. …Goodnight."

After a new and awkward hesitation John's footsteps receded. Sherlock collapsed to curl up, trembling, blinking hard and jaw working reflexively. It clearly wasn't real. Clearly. But the lack of John was still too close, cut too keenly, and once more Sherlock felt his heart break.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Mazarin221B for helping me feel my way around the 221B format for the first time. Title borrowed from Dylan Thomas.


End file.
